THE NEW NUCLEAR OPTION – Hoyer at Union Station today: Tackle tax reform this year -- IN BRUSSELS: ‘My name is Bob Menendez and I have just been sanctioned by Vladimir Putin’ – FATTAH’S SON SUES IRS

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THE NEW NUCLEAR OPTION – Edward-Isaac Dovere reports for POLITICO: “Pressure is continuing to mount in President Barack Obama’s base — and within his own White House — to push for a new nuclear option for judicial nominees. The clock is ticking: The Senate’s less likely to vote on any nominees as the November election draws nearer, and a possible Republican takeover of the Senate is looming large. But White House counsel Kathy Ruemmler and others in the administration are currently caught between their own exasperation and their wariness about a direct challenge to Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) — the one and only man who could peel away the next layer of Senate control over nominations.

-- “Republican senators, White House aides argue, have developed what amounts to a silent filibuster, using the ‘blue slip’ tradition that gives home state senators signoff power for in-state nominees. Given the number and length of delays, they say trying to collaborate on nominations has become an unbearable burden, the blue slip an outdated courtesy … Meanwhile, the White House points to examples like GOP Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida and Richard Burr of North Carolina, who refused to return blue slips on nominees they recommended, or people like former Missouri Supreme Court Justice Ronnie White, whose nomination to the federal bench by Obama is still waiting on a blue slip four months after Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) said he would return it.” http://politi.co/1iTDVga

THE ONGOING FEUD between the CIA and Senate Intelligence Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) could spill into nominations, writes our own Darren Samuselsohn: “The Senate surprised many when it voted to confirm Caroline Krass as CIA general counsel just two days after Feinstein’s bombshell floor speech. But there are still other high-profile Obama picks who are waiting for the Senate’s approval, including Vice Adm. Mike Rogers’ nomination to lead the Pentagon’s cyberwar unit. It’s an especially tempting appointment to block because Rogers would simultaneously assume the job of NSA director. ‘That’s really a nuclear option,’ [said Amy Zegart, a former National Security Council staffer and senior fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution].” http://politi.co/1hUmIkg

-- THE SENATE INTEL COMMITTEE is set to send a long-awaited report on the CIA’s interrogation practices to President Barack Obama, reports POLITICO’s Burgess Everett: Feinstein “says she has the votes on the narrowly divided panel to publicly reveal the executive summary and key conclusions of a 6,300-page report on Bush-era interrogation tactics, a move sure to fuel the Senate’s intense dispute with the CIA over how the panel pieced together the study. That vote is likely to happen sometime this week. But rather than a strong bipartisan signal from Congress, a vote to unveil the study appears set to divide along party lines because of that dispute.” http://politi.co/1dGhtSH

** A tax code that’s simple and fair is good for business and the economy. Repealing the cash method of accounting fails on both counts. Efforts to cut tax rates shouldn’t harm the businesses that drive growth. Join Grant Thornton in preserving the cash method of accounting. Learn more: http://gt-us.co/1mhh7Ki

HOUSE MINORITY WHIP STENY HOYER, in a speech at Union Station at 11 this morning, will call on Congress to by tackle comprehensive tax reform, even as he acknowledges a “big deal” isn’t possible this election year. Here are key excerpts: “There are some who believe that, because we’re no longer facing a ‘crisis,’ like a government shutdown or a debt limit, we can stop working to restore fiscal sustainability. I’m here today to argue the opposite: it’s at this moment – when we don’t have a crisis breathing down our necks – that we have the best chance to lay the groundwork for the hard decisions we will need to make. If we don’t make those decisions, it’s going to be the most vulnerable Americans who pay the price. …

-- “I believe we missed an opportunity with the Murray-Ryan budget deal, which is why I voted against it. It not only failed to address long-term fiscal sustainability, it also failed to take advantage of a moment when Congress had an opening to show the American people that their government can produce solutions to our most pressing challenges – to get that swagger back, as Indra Nooyi said. It was exactly the kind of opportunity we need to be ready for next time. And there will be a next time. …

-- “But short of reaching a big deal, we can still leverage opportunities before us to make progress toward the goal that proponents of a such a deal have long sought. If we’re going to show the world that America is serious about tackling our problems head-on, Congress will have several opportunities this year to work in a bipartisan way to fix structural problems in our budget.” RSVP here:http://bit.ly/1eEuz6t

‘AMBASSADOR, DEAR, YOU ARE LYING’ – Our editor in chief, John F. Harris, files this dispatch from Brussels: “It takes a powerful force to jolt this place out of its usual instinct for diplomatic abstractions and harumphing; Russian President Valdimir Putin turns out to be up to the task. At a riveting session Friday before the annual Brussels Forum, the Russian ambassador to the EU, Vladimir Chizhov, appalled the audience of international officials and national security specialists by brazenly spouting the Moscow line: Russia was compelled to annex Crimea because Ukraine was in danger of becoming a chaotic ‘failed state’ — as though the audience was unaware how much Russia’s own manipulations helped bring about this very chaos.

-- “A few moments later, a top official with the Ukrainian ministry of foreign affairs, Vasyl Filipchuk, turned to the Russian. He allowed that ‘I sincerely respect you’ as a ‘very skillful diplomat,’ then got to the point: ‘Ambassador, dear, you are lying.’ ‘You are calling white as black and black as white,’ the diplomat said. Next up at the gathering of transatlantic policymakers and intellectuals was the former president of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili. Unlike his Ukrainian counterpart, he said, ‘I have no respect for Ambassador Chizhov. He reminds me of a character from ‘Dr. Strangelove.’’

-- “This remarkable exchange — downright raucous by the usual standards of Brussels eurobabble — had the effect of spotlighting Obama’s challenge on his Europe tour this week. The continent’s leaders are consumed with the now-what question: In the wake of Russia’s crude yet effective land snatch, can there be any prospect of going back to anything approximating precrisis normal relations with Moscow? Or is time for the United States and European allies to face up to a new reality — that Putin’s Russia is an aggressively adversarial power and is going to remain that way for the indefinite future?” http://politi.co/1itJ79Y

-- On Harris’s flight back home to D.C. from Brussels: none other than Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), who spent the last few days meeting with NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton, and Estonian President Toomas Ilves. The chairman also delivered a keynote address Brussels Forum hosted by the German Marshall Fund that started this way:

-- “Good morning. My name is Bob Menendez and I have just been sanctioned by Vladimir Putin. I suspect for standing up for the Ukrainian people, standing up for freedom, standing up for democracy. If that’s the case, then I say -- by all means, Mr. Putin, sanction me. Sanction all of us who stand for the freedom of Ukraine. … “

-- AT 5:30 tonight, the Senate will vote on Menendez’s Ukraine aid and sanctions package, the Support for the Sovereignty, Integrity, Democracy, and Economic Stability of Ukraine Act of 2014, which cleared the Foreign Relations Committee earlier this month by a bipartisan 14-3 vote.

GOOD MONDAY MORNING, MARCH 24, 2014, and welcome to The Huddle, where your host’s beloved UCLA Bruins are still fighting on in the Sweet 16! Send tips, suggestions, comments, complaints and corrections to swong@politico.com. If you don’t already, please follow me on Twitter @scottwongDC.

TODAY IN CONGRESS – The House meets at noon with votes expected about 6:30 p.m. Bills considered under suspension of the rules include: the Philippines Charitable Giving Assistance Act, Cooperative and Small Employer Charity Pension Flexibility Act and a handful of bills to rename post officers. The Senate meets at 2 p.m. and at 5:30 p.m. will hold a procedural vote on the Ukraine aid and sanctions bill.

AROUND THE HILL – At 1:30 p.m., Sen. Marco Rubio discusses the importance of American innovation during a visit to Uber’s D.C. offices, 1875 Connecticut Ave. NW.

SEN. JOHN McCAIN holds his first Arizona re-election fundraiser on April 24 at the Ritz-Carlton in Phoenix. “Asked about the event Friday, McCain told The [Arizona] Republic that while he still has not made a final decision to seek a sixth Senate term, he has never taken a race for granted and wants ‘to make sure that we are fully prepared when I make a decision, if I decide to run again.’ He previously has held re-election fundraisers in New York City, Denver, Las Vegas and Washington, D.C., but April 24 will be his first in Arizona.” … Gov. Jan Brewer and former Gov. Fife Symington, Sen. Jeff Flake and former Sen. Jon Kyl, and former Vice President Dan Quayle have signed on as honorary co-chairs of the Friends of John McCain Reception. http://bit.ly/1moCc5vSee the invitation here:http://bit.ly/1juX86x

-- L.A. Times A1 1-col. Lead: “Losses Shake up tea party: Leaders dismiss talk of the movement’s demise and say it has matured and learned from its stumbles,” By Mike Memoli:http://lat.ms/ORdbBP

N.H. AIRWAVES WAR – The Boston Globe’s Matt Viser writes in the A1 lead: “On New Year’s Eve, station managers at WMUR-TV in Manchester, N.H., received a request from a media buyer in northern Virginia: Americans for Prosperity, a nonprofit backed by the billionaires David and Charles Koch, wanted to buy some ads. Lots of ads. During the next week, nearly $120,000 worth of ads aired during commercial breaks of shows like ‘Ellen,’ ‘The Bachelor,’ and ‘Modern Family.’ The hard-hitting, 30-second spots were among the first in a wave to attack Senator Jeanne Shaheen, helping lay the groundwork for former Massachusetts senator Scott Brown to challenge the Democratic incumbent. ‘Tell Senator Shaheen it’s time to be honest,’ the ad said. “ObamaCare doesn’t work.”

-- “Shaheen’s allies have fought back but,in a sign of potential trouble for the Democrat and her supporters, they have been overwhelmed by the opposition’s barrage, outspent by a margin of more than 4-to-1. The gap is already becoming a grave concern among state Democrats who fear that national party leaders are not making the race a priority.” http://b.globe.com/OQZJhj

TREASURY SECRETARY JACK LEW will have surgery in New York on Tuesday to treat a benign enlarged prostate. POLITICO’s Kate Davidson: http://politi.co/1jlVV5D

REP. FATTAH’S SON SUES IRS FOR NEARLY $1M – Jonathan Tamari reports for the Philadelphia Inquirer: “Chaka Fattah Jr., son of Rep. Chaka Fattah (D., Pa.), is suing the Internal Revenue Service, seeking nearly $1 million in damages for what he says were violations of IRS rules that harmed his reputation and crippled his earning power during an investigation into allegedly unpaid taxes. … Fattah Jr., who is not a lawyer, drafted and filed the lawsuit himself in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. He seeks $928,001 in damages for lost income, emotional distress, injury to his reputation, and other claims. … At the heart of Fattah Jr.'s claims are Feb. 29, 2012, raids on his office and his apartment in the Residences at the Ritz-Carlton. Inquirer photographers were on hand to take pictures of FBI and U.S. Treasury Department agents arriving and leaving, bringing to public attention to criminal and tax probes related to Fattah Jr.'s income taxes and bank loans.” http://bit.ly/1jm1ot9

PATRICK KENNEDY TO PUBLISH MEMOIR – Steven Levingston writes for the Washington Post: “Former U.S. congressman Patrick J. Kennedy will write a book about his struggles with mental illness and his political and personal battles to ease the stigma for Americans suffering from the disease, Blue Rider Press announced. The book, ‘A Common Struggle: A Very Personal Journey Through the Past and Future of Mental Illness and Addiction,’ will be published in late 2015. … His troubles with drug addiction, alcoholism and mental illness have a long history. As a teenager, he was treated for cocaine use. Later, he revealed his battle with bipolar disorder, also known as manic depression. In 2006, he crashed his car into a barrier outside the Capitol at around 2 a.m. while high on prescription drugs – a public embarrassment that spurred him to go public with his addiction to prescription drugs.” http://wapo.st/1prK3fK

NORTH CAROLINA TEAMS SHUT OUT OF SWEET 16 – Chris Chase writes for USA Today: “Tobacco Road hasn’t seen a springtime drought like this in more than three decades. For the first time since 1979, the ACC’s Big Four — Duke, North Carolina, North Carolina State and Wake Forest — won’t have a participant in the Sweet 16. If not for Virginia’s win over Memphis on Sunday night, the entire ACC, even with new additions Syracuse, Pittsburgh and Notre Dame, would have been out before the Sweet 16 for the first time since ’79 too.

-- “Third-seeded Duke was upset by Mercer in the second round. North Carolina State won a play-in game, but collapsed down the stretch against St. Louis and was ousted the same night as the Blue Devils. North Carolina lost in the final seconds on Sunday to Iowa State.” http://usat.ly/1doDjQc

FRIDAY’S TRIVIA WINNER -- Jim Brewer was first to correctly answer that Susanna M. Salter of Argonia, Kansas, is believed to be the first female mayor in the U.S. She was elected in 1887.

TODAY’S TRIVIA – Keeping in the spirit of Women’s History Month, Liz Schuelke offers this question: Name the states that currently have a woman serving as governor? The first person to correctly answer gets a mention in the next day’s Huddle. Email me at swong@politico.com.

GET HUDDLE emailed to your Blackberry, iPhone or other mobile device each morning. Just enter your email address where it says “Sign Up.” http://www.politico.com/huddle/

** The cash method of accounting has long been recognized as the appropriate method of accounting for pass-through businesses. It’s simple, fair and requires taxpayers to pay tax only when they actually receive income. Forcing businesses to change to the accrual method would be disruptive, complex and unfair. It would add unnecessary compliance burdens and hurt the nation’s efforts to grow. The U.S. can’t afford damaging its economic jobs engine by forcing a conversion to the accrual method of accounting. Join Grant Thornton in preserving the cash method of accounting. Learn more: http://gt-us.co/1mhh7Ki

Send to a friendTHE NEW NUCLEAR OPTION – Hoyer at Union Station today: Tackle tax reform this year -- IN BRUSSELS: ‘My name is Bob Menendez and I have just been sanctioned by Vladimir Putin’ – FATTAH’S SON SUES IRS